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Work on a planned contraflow cycle lane through Royal Victoria Park in Bath has been suspended after Bath and North East Somerset Council said it failed to put a campaign group’s formal objection before the decision-maker. The council has revoked its earlier decision and will review that objection alongside others; construction may be delayed by several months and the project could still be dropped.
Work on a planned cycle lane through Royal Victoria Park in Bath has been suspended after Bath and North East Somerset Council admitted it failed to consider a formal objection from campaign group Walk Ride Bath before making its earlier decision. The council has revoked that decision and will review the missed objection, delaying a project intended to connect the Weston-to-city-centre route.
The council disclosed the oversight in response to a Freedom of Information request from Adam Reynolds, Walk Ride Bath’s policy and technical representative. It said the group’s objection to the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) was not taken into consideration because of a “technical and administrative oversight” and was not put before the decision-maker. The council apologised.
An officer has now made a delegated decision to revoke the previous decision and formally review the missed objection alongside the other objections already submitted. The council said this approach avoids restarting the process from the beginning and, if it ultimately decides to make the TRO, could protect the implementation timeline. That does not mean the lane has been approved again: a fresh decision is required.
The lane had been due for completion by mid-March, but the report says the delay could run to several months if the project proceeds. Construction had only just begun before being suspended. It remains possible the council will decide not to proceed after reviewing the objections.
A Fresh Decision Could Change the Route
The oversight affects both the project’s schedule and decision-making process. A formal objection was meant to inform the decision-maker’s consideration of the traffic order; the council’s admission means that decision must now be revisited. Residents and campaigners will be waiting to see whether their consultation responses affect the outcome.
The proposal is part of a planned connection between Weston and Bath city centre, but it has drawn disagreement over safety and usefulness. The council’s review could leave the scheme intact, prompt changes or lead to the TRO being rejected. Until that decision is made, the project’s eventual design and delivery date are uncertain.
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How the Park Lane Is Planned
The proposal would put a contraflow cycle lane through Royal Victoria Park, beside the ring road on the park’s western and southern sides. It would let cyclists travel in the opposite direction to road traffic. For travel out of the city, cyclists would use the single-lane road, which has traffic-calming chicanes and a 10mph speed limit.
Walk Ride Bath’s objection, filed in 2024, argued that proposed lighting did not “satisfactorily mitigate” personal-security concerns on a quiet route with limited overlooking and constrained natural surveillance. Some local residents have also questioned whether the contraflow lane is needed or safe, according to the original report.
The council revised its plans after an earlier public consultation. The revised design added pedestrian crossings and resurfaced footpaths, and proposed tulip-shaped wand kerbs to separate the cycle lane from traffic, replacing the originally planned paint-only separation. The council has described the project as a way to allow legal cycling through the park in both directions and reduce conflicts between cyclists and pedestrians.
““It was brought to the attention of officers that your objection document was not taken into consideration due to a technical and administrative oversight and therefore was not placed before the decision maker. We apologise for this oversight.””
— Bath and North East Somerset Council, in its response to Adam Reynolds’s FOI request
The Lane’s Future Remains Open
The council has not yet announced the outcome of its review or given a new date for work. It is unclear whether the decision-maker will approve the TRO, revise the scheme or reject it after considering all objections, including Walk Ride Bath’s.
Walk Ride Bath says it will continue investigating how its objection was missed and how the council decided to allocate £2.35 million to the proposal. The supplied report does not establish that the funding decision was unlawful or that the project’s wider evaluation was incomplete; those are concerns raised by the group. The council’s review timetable and any further explanation of the funding and route choice have not been specified.
Council to Review All Objections
The next step is for the decision-maker to consider the missed objection together with the other responses to the traffic order and reach a fresh decision. The council has said this process can correct the oversight without restarting the entire procedure. The work remains suspended while that review takes place.
If the council approves the order, the project could still go ahead, though completion is likely to be several months later than the previously planned mid-March date. The council has not provided a revised construction schedule. Walk Ride Bath says it will keep seeking answers about the missed objection and the proposed use of the funding.
Key Questions
Why has work on the Bath cycle lane been suspended?
Bath and North East Somerset Council said it failed to place Walk Ride Bath’s formal objection before the decision-maker. It has revoked its earlier decision and is reviewing the objection with others.
Has the council cancelled the cycle lane?
No cancellation has been announced. The scheme’s future is not yet decided; the council will make a fresh decision after considering the objections.
What was Walk Ride Bath’s objection about?
The group argued that proposed lighting did not adequately address personal-security concerns on a quiet park route with limited overlooking and natural surveillance.
How much could the project be delayed?
The lane had been due for completion by mid-March. The report says the delay could be several months if the project proceeds, but the council has not announced a revised date.
What happens next?
The decision-maker will review the missed objection alongside the other responses to the traffic order, then make a fresh decision. The council has not said when that review will conclude.
Source: road.cc
